The simulation genre has been on fire lately. Games like PowerWash Simulator and Lawn Mowing Sim have put a major spotlight on all things simulation and it shows. Every week there is a new simulation game coming out or announced. The next major one to release is North Star Games Spray Paint Simulator coming later this week.

After spending a relaxing afternoon with the preview, this simulation nerd was super excited to get the chance to talk with Nick Jefferson-Tame, Lead Artist and Creative Director (NJT) and Adam Mitchell, Lead Programmer and Technical Director (AM) of North Star Games about their favourite villains, making the move from game development to creating their own studio, creating a cozy simulation game and working with Xbox and game pass.

The first question is something I ask every new friend I meet. Who is your favorite gaming Villain?

NJT: Micah Bell from Red Dead Redemption 2. He is just the worst "” selfish, manipulative. His betrayal feels personal, which makes taking him down all the more satisfying.

AM: This is a tough question. The last game I played that I really liked was Days Gone, so maybe Colonel Matthew Garret. But I’m going to go with Bowser on the N64.  

Could you tell us a little about North Star Video Games and what made you take the leap from development to creating your own studio?

NJT: North Star started with me back in 2014 after I was made redundant. I decided to go solo as a contract artist, and since then, I have worked with several studios in and around Liverpool. It has always been a dream of mine to make my own game. Adam and I have worked together for over 20 years, so teaming up to do this felt like the natural next step. We worked around our contract work to build a demo and pitch deck for Spray Paint Simulator. After that, we signed with Whitethorn Games and went full-time on the game in January 2024.

AM: We've been in the games industry for a long time, and on many occasions, we've been quite closely involved with things like demo creation and the game pitching process. Doing our own project seemed like a natural progression, though a tough one to get off the ground.

Games have become increasingly complex over the years, usually requiring a lot of planning for a development process that takes a large team and a long time. Development becomes more about managing that process and team than about creativity. One of the most appealing parts of becoming an independent micro-dev was the opportunity to get back to that core creative process, which is the most exciting part of making games. 

You both have a lot of experience with game development, 45 combined years of it! Can you tell us about your background in game development and how you got started? 

AM: Like many people who grew up in the eighties, I started programming on 8-bit computers such as the VIC-20 and ZX Spectrum. As a 10-year-old kid, the only thing I wanted to program was games.  As computers got better (and I got older), I learned a lot about things like coordinate geometry, 3D  projection, and assembly language, and spent far too much time trying to write my own Zarch clone. That time ended up being well spent when I started working at Magenta on PS2 games.

NJT: I started in games back in 1996 (I feel a bit old saying that now). I was originally a mechanical engineer and did a lot of 3D modelling for that, but I always dreamed of making games and doing something more creative. So I quit my job, retrained, and landed my first role in games in summer 1996. That company did not last long, unfortunately, but I managed to get a job at Magenta Software in Liverpool at the start of 1997 and stayed there right up until I was made redundant in 2014. Not a bad run in this industry. We worked on lots of titles, mainly for Sony. Games like Jungle Party, which won a BAFTA, and Stuart Little 3: Big Photo Adventure.

Your most recent work before creating North Star was with Lawn Mowing Simulator. Were you always going to make a simulation game as your debut title, and what made you settle on Spray Paint Simulator specifically?

NJT: Technically, Spray Paint Simulator is not our debut title. Adam and I made a small hobby game a few years back in our spare time while working day jobs. It probably took two to three months of full-time effort if you added it all up, and we definitely got a lot of things wrong, but it was a brilliant learning experience. Lawn Mowing Simulator was our first time working on a proper sim game. We worked on it with the team at Skyhook Games, who are a great bunch, and overall it was a really positive experience. I enjoyed helping make the game, and the genre felt like something fresh for us.

Spray Paint Simulator came from a few different inspirations, all coming together. We had just come off LMS, PowerWash was starting to gain serious traction, and I was watching loads of oddly satisfying videos at the time. My wife was into restoring old furniture, which involved a lot of prep and painting, and I remember seeing a video of a guy spray painting a plain old window frame. It had over 180 million views. I just thought, imagine how satisfying that would feel in a game.

AM: Simulation games are obviously popular, and they're also pretty fun projects to work on. It's hard to say if we would have ended up making a simulation game if we hadn't worked on Lawn Mowing  Simulator. When it came to choosing a project, the fundamental problem we needed to solve was finding something viable for a small team with our skillset.  

I have played the demo for Spray Paint Simulator, and it has an amazing, relaxing vibe to it. What was the thought process behind keeping things lighthearted as opposed to more of a realistic sim?

NJT: We actually started off going more seriously. We had things like orange peel effects, drying times with a separate highlight system, and we even explored deeper masking mechanics. But once we prototyped it, it started to feel like a chore.

What really clicked was the immediate transformation from something old and dull to freshly painted and new. The masking felt better as a simple action, and part of the satisfaction comes from ticking off that checklist as you go. So we decided to strip it all back and focus on delivering a light-hearted, relaxing vibe that lets players enjoy the best parts of the process without getting bogged down in the details.

AM: The final art style choice was more Nick than me, but I think in general, we wanted to keep things fun and easygoing. Realism can be good, it can help the art direction in some ways, but it can also be quite limiting. I also think it’s something people have seen a lot of already.  

Instantly, when I saw Spray Paint Simulator announced, I thought of Powerwash Simulator. I don't know if anyone expected Powerwash to blow up like it did. Watching it in real time explode like that, did it inspire or change your mindset of how to look at things with Spray Paint Simulator?

NJT: Like I mentioned earlier, it was absolutely an inspiration. PowerWash really nailed that instant satisfaction, and we definitely wanted to capture that feeling but give it our own twist.

Spray painting brings colour into the mix, along with prep work, and it opens up a lot of creative potential. We have got a structured story mode with checklists and clear goals, but we also have Free Spray mode, where players can experiment with colour as much as they like (including the surrounding level environment). And you can share that freedom with a friend in co-op. So Spray Paint Simulator blends structure with real creative freedom, and we think it brings something positive and fresh to the genre.

AM: Around the same time PowerWash was releasing, we were working on Lawn Mowing Simulator, so we definitely took a close interest in how other simulators were doing. It's a great concept and has obviously done extremely well. I think everyone in the industry took notice, and many people have been influenced by it.

We spent quite a bit of time looking at a lot of games and brainstorming ideas for our own projects.  But we also have our own goals, mainly to stay small and create things we can mostly build ourselves, without needing a large team. That does restrict us in some ways, but it also gives us the freedom to be more creative and focus on what we love, making games, not managing teams.

You are releasing Spray Painting Sim on all platforms. How did the opportunity to get your game on Game Pass come about? What was the process like"”did Microsoft reach out to you, or did you pitch to them?

AM: The opportunity to be on Game Pass came through our publisher, Whitethorn Games. I believe  Microsoft is always looking for new things that their community would enjoy, and publishers are often in ongoing conversations with them.  

NJT: That was all down to the amazing folks over at Whitethorn Games. They are the ones who made it happen, and we are really happy they did. It was not something we went chasing ourselves. They handled everything and brought it together. We could not ask for a more supportive partner.

As an indie dev, what are the pros and cons of working with a service like Game Pass?

NJT: For Adam and me, the biggest thing was the validation. When you are working away behind the scenes, it is hard to know how your game will be received. So, having someone like Xbox recognize what we are making was a huge boost. It really motivated us.

AM: At this point, I can only say it’s been a positive experience. It was a huge vote of confidence in our project. For us, going from a spare-time demo to being accepted on Game Pass felt like the kind of moment worth breaking out the champagne for. It was a big milestone.  

What's been the biggest challenge during development?

AM: Development is always challenging, but for Spray Paint Simulator, I'd say the biggest challenge has been getting the game's balance right. Normally, we'd have multiple departments and a lot of team members playing the game, giving feedback. But for most of the project, it's just been the two of us.

That makes it harder to stay objective. I can get really good at spraying something after 50 hours,  and then it feels easy. If I make it harder, I have to wonder whether I’m overcompensating just because I'm too familiar with it.

NJT: Honestly, I have really enjoyed making the game. Like I said earlier, this has been a dream project. Of course, there are challenges, but we have been doing this a long time and you learn to take them in your stride. Probably the biggest one has been getting everything ready to go across all platforms around the same time. That is a lot of coordination between partners, especially for a small team like ours.

You've put out multiple demos since the announcement. How do you handle player feedback from those demos to adjust the game, if at all?

AM: We have multiple channels available for feedback and bug reports. There's the Steam community discussions, our Discord server, and feedback forms. The response from players has been overwhelmingly positive, and we've also received a number of great suggestions and constructive feedback that have helped us improve the game.  

NJT: We have had loads of feedback from the demos. We set up Google Forms, listened to comments on the Steam community page, and kept an eye on social media too. We read everything. That said, we do have to filter it. Sometimes, feedback completely contradicts itself; one player loves something, another hates it. Sometimes it is just not realistic for a small team, or maybe it is doable, but not before launch. But yes, we have definitely taken things on board and made changes. One example is the timer we had on screen in the first demo. It was not a countdown, just there to give info, but a lot of players said it made them feel pressured, so we took it out.

Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us. Do you have anything you'd like to add before Spray Paint Simulator goes live?

AM: It’s been a long journey from the initial idea to release. We've made a lot of games before, but always for other people. This time it's different, it's exciting and a little scary. We wouldn't have gotten this far without the great support from our publisher.

NJT: We really hope players enjoy the game. I am a mix of excited and nervous, which I think is completely normal. If you have not tried it yet, there is a demo on Steam. And if Spray Paint Simulator sounds like your kind of thing, please do wishlist it. The game launches on 29 May for PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5 and PS4, with the Nintendo Switch version out on 19 June. It will also be on Game Pass for Xbox and Windows Store from 29 May.

Big thanks to you for having us and for the lovely questions, and a special thanks to Whitethorn Games for believing in the game and supporting us every step of the way. And thanks to Black Cube for handling the ports and helping us bring the game to every platform.

Spray Paint Simulator will be releasing on Playstation 4 & 5, Pc (via Steam) and both Xbox One and X/S and will be available on Game Pass on the 29^th May. With a Nintendo Switch release 3 weeks later on the 19^th June.

There is a demo for Spray Paint Simulator available on Steam.

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